PROVIDENCE, R.I. – While the General Assembly gets lots of heat for not doing enough to fix the state’s ailing economy, House Speaker Gordon D. Fox wants it known that he too is “frustrated by the slow pace.”

Katherine Gregg Journal Political Writer kathyprojo

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – While the General Assembly gets lots of heat for not doing enough to fix the state’s ailing economy, House Speaker Gordon D. Fox wants it known that he too is “frustrated by the slow pace.”

But much of Fox’s frustration is aimed at the “slow pace” at which the Chafee administration has implemented legislation the lawmakers approved last year, including the creation of a Council of Economic Advisers to help steer the path to a recovery.

In response to a Providence Journal inquiry, Fox spokesman Larry Berman said: “A Council of Economic Advisers, a key component of the economic development package, was to be established by January 1, but no appointments by the administration have been made.”

Berman said the speaker is also dismayed – and intends to reject – Governor Chafee’s attempt to push back the date of the creation of the new “Executive Office of Commerce,” from February 1, 2015, to July 1, 2015. The proposed postponement was included in Chafee’s 2014-15 budget proposal.

A 2013 General Assembly press release explained why the lawmakers were seeking to “create a council of public- and private-sector experts to advise the state on economic policy and to maintain data on the state’s economy.”

“Our state’s economic decisions should be made based on the advice of experts who understand what works in economics now, and who are familiar with Rhode Island and the specific issues it faces. This council is intended to be those experts, a group that gives sound advice based on up-to-date information and real economic principles, not politics,” state Rep. Donna Walsh, the House sponsor, said at the time.

Asked why Chafee had not made appointments to the new council, his spokeswoman Faye Zuckerman issued a statement that said, in part:

“Governor Chafee takes the honor of making appointments to R.I.’s councils and commissions seriously. He strives to strengthen the quality, efficiency and image of our state by finding the right person who he believes will be the best fit.”

“We are late on this board, and we expect to have it filled soon.”

This report was initially posted at 1:07 p.m. and updated at 4:48 and 8:20 p.m.